This Week In Techdirt History

from the randomly-accessing-memory-lane dept

In 2009, the infamous Joel Tenenbaum filesharing case was in progress, and Charles Nesson had just revealed plans to attempt a fair use defense which, as many noted at the time, was destined to fail — but oh how different today would look if downloading had been deemed fair use five years ago. Of course, five years ago the record labels were also trying to bring down the Pirate Bay, an equally unachievable goal that they continue to struggle futilely with today.

Meanwhile, you can find early roots of plenty of modern trends ten years ago this week. Not too long after the introduction of .biz and .info, but before the rollout of .mobi, Tim Berners-Lee was arguing against new TLDs. He lost the .mobi battle and then, if I recall correctly, was proven wrong when .mobi became the most popular TLD in the world, which we all continue to use and love to this day. Er, right? At the same time, we were discussing the huge success of online pizza ordering (and though I don't think it came to Canada for a couple more years, it's a convenience I confess to using far too frequently) and the return of internet grocery stores (which were still struggling but beginning to find their legs, long before the days of Amazon Fresh). It wasn't just a week of internet trends either: we also noted the growth of often-pointless motorization to make everything from razors to pot scrubbers vibrate and oscillate.

Around this time in 1814, German glassblower and physicist Heinrich Geißler was born, and would go on to develop some of the earliest glass vacuum tubes. His designs and techniques evolved into neon lighting, the tubes used to first discover the electron, and the vacuum tube technology that paved the way for the entire world of electronics, broadcast and computing.

The funny thing is, I would pay for a music service like Pirate Bay - probably more than I now pay for music (or even more than I paid pre-internet). If only the RIAA had embraces such a service instead of fighting it.

Of course, it would have to stay just the way it is, with all the music ever made and not just what the RIAA deems good enough for public consumption, and no tiers and gimmicks to try and extract more money from the public. That's not likely to ever happen.

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Many years ago when Napster was around I used to buy music. I bought music I liked on principle, to support its creation. That was also before I knew how corrupt the law is. Ever since the RIAA went after them I generally resisted paying for music or software. While I generally also try to avoid infringing I would rather infringe than to support those that benefit from our broken laws (though I admit to buying textbooks or certain books. There are some other exceptions). Until the laws are fixed - until copy protection lengths are much shorter - I will resist buying protected products.